Hello! One of by boys is a year and a half old, and he has always been small. He has a very small lean body frame, that none of the other pigs have, including his parents. So, he isn't at a low weight... he is pretty average for his weight. He just will not gain! He has a huge appetite and eats everything, but he isn't gaining any weight? What do you guys think?

I'm back with a LOT to update you on. Lynx - can we make this Black Diamond's medical thread? I don't think I have made one for him and if I have I apologize and would be happy to scoot over there and post. Anyway, the issue at hand.

So Diamond has had a lot happen since this post. A few months ago we had multiple issues come through here, we lost two pigs and we almost lost Diamond as well. He presented with these symptoms:

- Loss of weight
- Burning hot to the touch
- Wedged between his house and the corner
- Unresponsive, staring off into the distance, didn't move the whole car ride or at the vet
- Unable to stand on hind legs properly, was sitting on them as if they weren't there, toes and feet bent at worrisome angles.
- Severely dehydrated... eyes were sunken into his head.

I immediately rushed him to the vet where they gave him sub-q fluids and a vitamin B & C shot and pulled blood on him. The blood work revealed that he was borderline hypoglycemic (I expected that based off of his symptoms), and he had low blood protein. We sent off a protein electrophoresis and left him at the vet overnight. I didn't expect him to make it, but he did! One of our other boys also became anemic at the time which led us to think about scurvy. Both pigs got another vitamin C shot, and the first pig made a recovery we never thought we would ever see. Diamond perked up but hasn't made a recovery. He was the runt when he was born. They were a litter of four and they all did well. All of them were small, but the other three filled out nicely and Diamond never has. The highest his weight has ever been is around 800 grams. When he went in for his yearly my vet looked at him, then the weight, then him, then the weight and then checked the record. She relaxed a bit when she saw that his weight was on point from last year, but last year he was eight or nine months old? He will be two in a few months, and his weight has been hovering around 740 grams for the past few months. He looks thin and he feels thin, but he is eating everything. I am just not sure about this... if he gets sick will he be strong enough to recover?

Bpatters, they ran a full blood panel on him and nothing was abnormal aside from hypoglycemia and the blood protein levels (which we never retested because he was doing so well). We know the blood protein resolved, but never checked the hypoglycemia. I'm kicking myself right now for that. If he starts losing weight again I am going to tell our vet to do another blood draw on him. His parents were both rescues, but neither of them were diabetic... his father was euthanized a year ago (pneumonia and suspected meningitis). Something feels wrong to me... I have had 10+ pigs and none of them have ever weighed in below 800 grams for their entire life.

bpatters, he had a salad and pellets today, and he just weighed in at 640 grams. And on top of that our vet is going to the other end of the world for two weeks so we will have to use another. Fortunately, we have two more completely competent vets at the same location, so we will not be in bad hands... but last time he dropped like this he nearly died, so we need to move fast. Working on getting an appointment in for sometime in the next three days. I'm not leaving without a blood draw (need to do it anyway at this point because of last time's results), and we will see what else they would like to do.

Lynx, thank you for sharing that article with me as I would not have found it on my own. This is the only thing I have heard about so far that falls into a partial alignment with his symptoms. Did the author of this article remain online after she passed? Is there a way that I could contact them?

That's unfortunate... I could use his advice. A few of the symptoms match... his whole life he has never gotten above 800 grams, and he is a small pig with a very lean frame. He also has uncontrollable energy... I put him on the couch and put my hand in front of his face to tell him to sit still (the others will sit for a minute) and he climbed right over it and ran all over the couch, jumped onto the floor and ran off. He eats a lot but is still losing weight. I'm sending a photo of him to you Lynx. Hmmm...

Sorry it’s blurry, he wouldn’t sit still. Yes, all three of his siblings are normal size and so were his parents, but he never grew. He was born here though, and he is almost two years old. A lot smaller than all of my others... even his half brothers.

I can see his hip bones and his stomach isn’t big. He doesn’t have any gathered fat under his legs (I’ll admit that some of mine do). The vet has agreed that he is very skinny, but he is eating everything. I am getting an appointment today and will have the vet palpate and feel his thyroid as well.

Hi Phantomhorse,
I am having a very similar issue with my Trapper. He came from Crazy Cavies GP Rescue and he has never really gained weight either. He is 3yo male, weighs 900g when he was healthy. Now hes down to 800g and is literally skin and bones. Similarly, we have never been able to get to the bottom of why he has been chronically ill despite an ear infection that hasn't fully resolved. My vet also went out of the country for 2 weeks and the main vet is now handling his case. Like Diamond, Trapper's hips stick out and he has no meat on his bones.
Also, when Trapper won't eat or drink, I syringe him a mixture of pedialyte/water to hydrate him and work in organic baby food in addition to the Critical Care. I can't get to the vet daily for sub q fluids so this has helped nurse him back. Hope he is feeling better!

4lilpigs, you must live near me, as Crazy Cavies is actually not far from me!! I am actually going there today to donate some hay! I don't know. His highest ever weight is 800g... he has never hit 900! I rescued his parents and he was born here, but none of his parents or other three siblings had this issue. Even the true "runt" is much bigger and heavier than him! The vet here isn't interested in why he is always so low on weight, they only want to figure it out if he starts losing again.

Phantomhorse,
Yes, we live in Ft. Lauderdale. Trapper has always very slight but he has never been truly healthy since we adopted him. He came to us with a very severe inner ear infection that ended up as a bone infection. We thought we had that all cleared up but its been now 8 months of back and forth and not really knowing what was making him sick. So I guess because of all that, he has never really thrived. All of his brothers' who came to us underweight at 800-900g as adult piggies are now all up to 1150-1350g. I hope you are able to figure out what is ailing him. Trapper is dealing with possible lymphoma now so we are just keeping him comfortable and giving him lots of kisses! If you are interested in keeping in touch, feel free to PM me and we can exchange contact info.